Sherlock Holmes stories enter public domain

Share with others:

In the more than 125 years since he first appeared, Sherlock Holmes has popped up everywhere from fan fiction set in outer space to screen adaptations such as CBS' "Elementary," set in contemporary New York. But now, following a legal ruling, the deerstalker-wearing detective is headed to another destination: the public domain.

A federal judge has issued a declarative judgment stating that Holmes, Watson, 221B Baker Street, the dastardly Professor Moriarty and other elements included in the 50 Holmes works that Arthur Conan Doyle published before Jan. 1, 1923, are no longer covered by U.S. copyright law, and can therefore be freely used by others without paying any licensing fee to the writer's estate.

The decision comes at a moment when Holmes is a newly lucrative commercial property, thanks to the show "Elementary," the BBC series "Sherlock" (shown in the United States as part of PBS' "Masterpiece") and the Warner Bros. movie franchise; all three have entered into licensing agreements with the estate.

The ruling came in response to a civil complaint filed in February by Leslie S. Klinger, editor of the three-volume, nearly 3,000-page "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes" and a number of other Holmes-related books. The complaint stemmed from "In the Company of Sherlock Holmes," a collection of new Holmes stories written by different authors and edited by Mr. Klinger and Laurie R. King, herself the author of a mystery series featuring Mary Russell, Holmes' wife.

Mr. Klinger and Ms. King had paid a $5,000 licensing fee for a prior Holmes-inspired collection. But in the complaint, Mr. Klinger said Pegasus Books, publisher of "In the Company of Sherlock Holmes," had declined to go forward after receiving a letter from the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd., a business entity organized in Britain, suggesting that the estate would prevent the new book from being sold by Amazon, Barnes & Noble and "similar retailers" unless it received another fee.

U.S. District Chief Judge Rubén Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, said elements introduced in Holmes stories published after 1923 -- such as the fact that Watson played rugby for Blackheath or had a second wife -- remain under U.S. copyright. (All Holmes stories are in the public domain in Britain.) But the judge rejected what he called the estate's "novel legal argument" that the characters remain under copyright because, it claimed, they were not truly completed until Conan Doyle published his last Holmes story in 1927.

"Klinger and the public may use the pre-1923 story elements without seeking a license," the judge wrote.

Mr. Klinger said he planned to go ahead with "In the Company of Sherlock Holmes," which he said carefully avoided any post-1923 elements. He praised the ruling for opening the way for other creators, many of whom had previously paid fees to the estate but had rallied to Mr. Klinger's cause under the Twitter hashtag #FreeSherlock.

"Sherlock Holmes belongs to the world, and this ruling clearly establishes that," he said. "People want to celebrate Holmes and Watson, and now they can do that without fear."

The BBC declined to comment on the decision's impact on its agreement for "Sherlock," whose third season begins Jan. 19 on PBS. Warner Bros. had no comment on the ruling. A CBS spokesman said, "The decision will not affect CBS' production or distribution of 'Elementary.' "

Benjamin W. Allison, a lawyer for the Conan Doyle Estate, said it was exploring an appeal, but asserted that the ruling did not imperil any existing licensing agreements or the estate's separate claims under trademark law. Mr. Allison also reiterated the estate's argument that the "highly delineated" Holmes and Watson characters depend on elements introduced in the post-1923 stories, which remain protected, and which he said went beyond simple matters such as Watson's athletic career.

"Those stories are set at a variety of points in Sherlock's fictional life, not just the end of his life," he said. "They develop the two men's characters in ways that almost any use of the characters depends on."

Join the conversation:

To report inappropriate comments, abuse and/or repeat offenders, please send an email to
socialmedia@post-gazette.com and include a link to the article and a copy of the comment. Your report will be reviewed in a timely manner.
Thank you.